St. Patrick’s Day Parade 2017

Posted by Edward McCary in Pic Picks on April 8, 2017

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Parades are a sumptuous visual feast for a photographer. Why is this?

The answer can be summed up in one word: proximity.

For one day, complete strangers from across the spectrum of life—rich and poor, old and young—feel compelled to congregate as one giant, chaotic mass.

People whose lives are so disparate and unalike, who just yesterday were rabidly avoiding each other, now find themselves willingly breathing down each other’s necks, craning for a view of grown men riding motorized bathtubs, or to get a glimpse of a giant, roving bust of Sir Winston Churchill.

The camera has a unique ability to highlight these absurdities, all in a single frame. Plus, in the clutter of the whole event, people are less inclined to punch you out when you point a lens in their face.

It is truly a photographer’s dream.